2006–07 San Jose Sharks season
The San Jose Sharks 2006–07 season was the 15th season played by the franchise. Offseason During the 2006 offseason, the San Jose Sharks made significant changes in order to bolster their defense and team grit. The Sharks signed Mike Grier from the Buffalo Sabres and former Shark Curtis Brown from the Chicago Blackhawks, two forwards noted for their defense prowess on both sides of the ice. After signing the two veterans, Doug Wilson traded their top offensive defenceman in 2005–2006, Tom Preissing, to the Ottawa Senators for centerman Mark Bell of the Chicago Blackhawks in a 3-way trade involving Martin Havlat going from Ottawa to the Blackhawks. Wilson then traded underachieving winger Ekman to Pittsburgh. In August, to round off their flurry of trades, the Sharks signed veterans Mathieu Biron and Patrick Traverse. The Sharks also signed many players such as Graham Mink and Scott Ferguson for their AHL affiliate. On October 2, 2006, the Sharks acquired Vladimir Malakhov and a first-round conditional draft pick in exchange for Jim Fahey and Alexander Korolyuk, who is playing in Russia. Regular season The Sharks got off to a sizzling 20–7–0 start, the best in franchise history. Soon however, several key players missed a few games each with injuries, and the Sharks continued to struggle with consistency as their results dropped off. At the end of February, they lost four games in a row, their longest losing streak of the season. When the trading deadline approached, Wilson used some of his carefully acquired assets to address the team's areas of need, trading draft picks and prospects for Craig Rivet from the Montreal Canadiens and Bill Guerin from the St. Louis Blues. With Rivet playing quality minutes on defense and Guerin scoring goals on offense, the Sharks began winning at a torrid pace, finishing the last 16 games of the regular season with a record of 13–1–3. They concluded the regular season with a total record of 51–26–5 for 107 points, the most wins and points in franchise history. However, in the stacked Western Conference, their record was only good enough for the #5 playoff seed, and they had to open the playoffs on the road. Unique to note is that the Sharks spent most of the season rotating their two goaltenders, Vesa Toskala and Evgeni Nabokov every other game. The only time either one has played for any extended period of time was when the other was injured or otherwise unable to play. When Toskala injured his groin, Nabokov made 14 straight starts and played arguably the best hockey of his career, significantly contributing to the Sharks' late-season spate of victories. As a result, even when Toskala returned from injury, Coach Ron Wilson retained Nabokov as the #1 goalie to finish off the regular season and going into the playoffs. The Sharks iced four rookies during the season: Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Matt Carle, Ryane Clowe, and Joe Pavelski, with each making significant contributions to the team's success. Vlasic, at just 19 years old, was not even expected to make the team, but he put together a stellar preseason and was on the Sharks' opening night roster. He went on to play 81 games, leading all NHL rookie defensemen in average ice time at over 21 minutes a game, and was arguably the Sharks' most consistent defenceman the whole season. In the first round of the 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Sharks again met the Nashville Predators, and advanced to the second round after defeating them 4 games to 1 for the second straight season. They then fell to the Detroit Red Wings in the semi-finals in 6 games. Season standings Game log October November December January February March April *Green background indicates win. *Red background indicates regulation loss. *White background indicates overtime/shootout loss. Playoffs The San Jose Sharks ended the 2006–07 regular season as the Western Conference's fifth seed. Western Conference Quarter-finals: vs. (4) Nashville Predators San Jose wins series 4–1 Western Conference Semi-finals: vs. (1) Detroit Red Wings Detroit wins series 4–2 *Green background indicates win. *Red background indicates loss. Player stats |- | class="toccolors" |Goaltending |- | |- |} |- | class="toccolors"| Goaltending |- | |- |} Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T/OT = Ties/Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage; Transactions Trades Free Agents Acquired Free Agents Lost Waiver Losses Draft Picks External links *Official site of the San Jose Sharks See also *2006–07 NHL Season References *'Game log:' San Jose Sharks game log on espn.com *'Team standings:' NHL standings on espn.com *'Player Stats:' San Jose Sharks 2006-07 Reg. Season Stats on espn.com *'Draft Picks:' 2006 NHL Entry Draft *'Team Website:' San Jose Sharks *'Team Info:' San Jose Sharks Info on Yahoo Sports *'League Website:' NHL.com Goaltenders: • Defensemen • • • • • • • Forwards • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Category:San Jose Sharks seasons Category:2006 in hockey Category:2007 in hockey